Letters

An open letter to the University of Michigan community:

During the past weeks, our community has been involved in an
intense debate related to the completion of the Michigan Student
Assembly elections for the 1998-99 academic year. We feel it
necessary to address issues concerning the tenor and content of some
of the publicity provided by an MSA candidate.

As a university community, we have worked to create an environment
of respect for the many groups and entities that comprise our world
here at the University of Michigan. In recent years, we have
formalized our commitment to this high ideal by carefully
articulating these goals in policies and acting on these goals
through programs and services. Because of this commitment, we find it
necessary to speak out against behavior and speech which we feel
violate values so important to our sense of community.

Some of the campaign materials, both printed and electronic, have
offended many individuals and groups by their racist, sexist and
demeaning tone. A thorough evaluation of the complaints filed about
this election publicity has concluded that there has been no
prosecutable violation of the University's Code of Student Conduct,
the guidelines on the use of electronic mail, or the rights and
privileges of individuals and groups as monitored and enforced by the
University's Department of Public Safety. However, that does not mean
that we as a community must find these to be acceptable expressions.

As we look to the 21st century, it is imperative that all of us in
this community work together toward a shared vision. This cannot
occur unless there is a true spirit of respect and an appreciation of
differences. A true spirit of community is forged not just by making
certain that we exercise all of our basic rights to the maximum. It
is instead created and nurtured by an awareness of others around us
and by a mature appraisal of the consequences of our behaviors on
others who also comprise this community.

We recognize the pain that this campaign has visited upon the
African American community directly and the other communities of
color by extension. We also recognize that the lack of respect
demonstrated in this campaign affects and diminishes all of us in
this community. Our hope is that we can provide support to those
individuals whose historic struggles have been trivialized and
mocked. We also must recognize that we are all lessened when any
group in our community is harmed.

We wish to invite all groups to continue to express and assert
their concerns in a constructive and productive fashion. We realize
that this letter, the latest in the many campus communications
distributed during the last couple of weeks, is part of this ongoing
dialogue and debate that we wish to foster and support in these
difficult times.